


CoSL 02: Adjustments

by Dracophile



Series: Grimm-The Casebook of Sloane Larson [2]
Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Episode Related, F/M, Original Character Focus, Original Character(s), Sloane kills some wesen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 22:39:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15301590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dracophile/pseuds/Dracophile
Summary: PART 2 OF CASEBOOK OF SLOANE LARSONSloane refuses to leave unless Nick lets her train him in being a more proper Grimm. Nick is understandably hesitant, since to her that means killing most of them. But leaving her alone could end up in wesen being killed around the city and Nick having to fight her. They need to come to an understanding, but it's hard when they both have such different ideas of how to hunt. And Sloane is about to learn just how different Portland is as far as wesen activity, and that she hasn't seen everything the wesen world has to offer.Summarizes episodes 40-42. Not too much change yet, but Sloane poses her own problems on the group and the wesen around her.





	CoSL 02: Adjustments

**Author's Note:**

> STOP!! This is the second chapter. You might be a little confused if you haven't read the first. You can flip back using the series arrows, or follow the link here to the first chapter https://archiveofourown.org/works/15129224

Nick wasn’t really keen on learning anything from the Grimm, Sloane Larson. After all, her first impression left him cold as she tried to kill Rosalee and Monroe. She was strong as hell and a great fighter of course; he could tell that even without her alluding to her experience so (un)subtly. But something else he learned, that he really should’ve guessed given she tracked a giant man-eating wesen halfway across the country…

Sloane Larson did not give up.

Five days after her declaration of becoming his mentor, she was waiting outside the police station for him at the end of the day. Hank was still doing some paperwork before meeting him, so seeing her resting against his car in the parking lot, tapping her finger against her folded arms impatiently, was a lone confrontation.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

She arched her brow as if asking ‘ _Isn’t it obvious?_ ’ “You know, I never give out my number. Ever. You’re really hurting my feelings not at least giving a courtesy call, Detective.”

“Somehow I think you have thicker skin than that,” he said blandly.

“True. But really, we need to work out when we’re going to train.”

“I was thinking this side of never,” Nick said seriously.

Sloane frowned. “Look, I’m offering to help you. Take you from acceptable to great.”

“I’m fine being “acceptable”, and I think that’s a little unfair still.”

“I call it like I see it,” she shrugged. “And I see you getting into a lot of trouble if you don’t train more.”

“I don’t really want to train with you,” he ground out.

Now she looked honestly confused and a little insulted, as though they were kids and he said he didn’t want to play with her. “Why?”

Nick tried to think how to phrase things for her to understand. “Because I don’t really like your attitude?”

“My attitude? What’s wrong with it?”

“You tried to kill two of my best friends and then kept threatening them even when they helped you!”

“…You mean the wesen? You’re still on that?” she asked, annoyed.

“ _Yes_.”

She looked close to having an aneurism. “You are blowing me off because you don’t like that I have a problem with you befriending monsters?! Who kill people?!”

“Neither of them do that!”

“Oh, the Blutbad doesn’t? Really?”

“He’s reformed. He’s one of the nicest people I know.”

“Reformed. Reformed means that he wasn’t always so nice, doesn’t it?” She zeroed in on his words to throw at him.

Nick faltered. “I…”

“Meaning he’s killed in the past?” she pressed, getting closer to him.

“…Yes. I do know that for sure because he’s helped me kill other wesen.”

“Before that?” she prompted, not letting him get an inch.

“Maybe…” he allowed. “I don’t know all the details. But he’s done so helping me hunt-”

“So you want me to take it on the monster’s word that he’s _good_ now,” she steamrolled over him. “That he’s not going to change his mind again someday and decide someone walking down the street looks tasty? Or me? Or you?”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Nick grit out. “You know what, if you aren’t going to respect my friends, you can just leave.”

Sloane glared more. “I told you, I owe it to your mother and your aunt to make sure you aren’t going to get yourself killed. I’m sticking around until I’m sure.”

“Yeah, well, not around here. I’m heading home. Do not follow me.”

Sloane glared but pushed away from the car, walking for the exit. She passed by Hank, who glanced at her curiously, but neither paused.

“Hey man. Sorry it took so long.”

“No problem,” Nick said rather curtly.

Hank arched his eyebrows. “You sure? Because it sounds like it is…”

Nick sighed and shook his head. “No, sorry…it’s not about you. That Grimm from before, she’s still around and…getting under my skin. She was here just a second ago…”

“Wait, that was her?” He looked back, but Sloane was already gone from sight. “Why’s she still around?” He asked, climbing into the car.

“She wants to train me in some Grimm fighting techniques or something…” Nick climbed in behind the driver’s seat.

“Huh…well, that could come in handy.”

“I’m not learning from someone who keeps saying Monroe and Rosalee are going to betray me or threaten them. That’s her real motive I think, getting me to think like her,” Nick groused.

“Fair enough, but I’m just saying you could learn what she has to teach you and not be like her. My law professor in college was the laziest old bastard ever, and I mean he would rather stay seated in his chair and wheel it around the room than stand and walk two feet to talk to a student. No medical problems, just lazy. But he was smart as hell. I didn’t catch his laziness, I have trouble standing still, but I did make good enough grades I could’ve gone to law school and be a high powered attorney if I wanted.”

Nick was quiet as he thought about that. “Why didn’t you? Go to law school I mean?”

“I wouldn’t get to chase the perps as a lawyer. Not lazy, remember,” Hank grinned. “Plus after the second divorce, I’m not too keen on lawyers.”

Nick snorted and shook his head. He knew there was probably a better reason, but had to admit it was more cathartic to be able to chase criminals than risk seeing them walk day in and day out. “I’ll consider it…”

\------------

Sloane walked into the bar with her hood up. Most would think it’s too warm for a hoodie, but she preferred to keep covered and could deal with the heat. This was a seedier bar on a rougher side of town. A rough biker bar called _The T-Bar Tavern_. She was still simmering from talking to Burkhardt and wanted a way to shed the anger; and this was a good place to do so she was sure. Going to the bar she sat down on the rather worn stool. The bar tender noticed her and came over.

“What can I get you?”

“Just a coke please.”

He arched his eyebrow. “Just a coke? Don’t want a little rum in there?”

“Just came in for a little refreshment and a rest after being on the road, not looking to get buzzed or drunk I’m afraid.”

“Yeah? Okay, but you know this isn’t the safest part of town for a girl alone.”

 _Counting on that._ “Like I said, just passing through. I think I’ll be okay.”

He shrugged but poured her a coke from the soda-gun with some ice and a straw. “Here you go.”

She nodded thanks and sipped it as she looked around. Most present were more interested in games of pool or whatever sport was on the TV—Basketball it seemed—than people watching like her. Others were gathered together in small groups of their own to talk and have drinks. Nearly everyone was dressed in threadbare jeans, tops with sports logos or questionable sayings or too much cleavage (men included) and bits of leather. She could’ve worn her own leather jacket, but opted for just a hooded sweatshirt and padded vest to hide the bulge of her knife and holster. She rotated her ankle, also feeling the slender knife there. She was itching for a fight. She got a refill about half an hour later with nothing else to distract her.

_C’mon, someone do something…_

“You little shark! You think you can hustle me?!” a loud booming voice rose over the dull murmurs.

 _That sounds promising._ She turned in the stool enough to look at the pool tables. One big, biker looking man with a beard and what might be muscles around his fat was looming over a slighter, more awkward man in a grimy tank top with a rather risqué picture of a cartoon rabbit and pair of jeans.

“I didn’t hustle you, buddy,” the slighter man said. “Really, it’s just luck! A little good for me, a little bad for you.”

“Oh, it’s going to be a lot of bad luck for you, _buddy_ ,” he spat, grabbing the front of his shirt.

The bartender slammed his hand on the counter. “Hey! No fighting in here. You want to fight, take it outside, or better yet, go your separate ways!”

The biker sneered but pushed the smaller man away. “Well, I’ll be waiting for you to leave then.” He turned and stormed out the door, and a couple of others joined him.

The smaller man tried to smile and looked at the bartender. “You mind me moving in here?”

“I do. You need to be careful who you make bets with. I’m not putting up with another brawl in here.”

“True, true. At the very least I’ll drink for a bit, maybe they’ll leave by then,” he said, sidling up to the bar. He glanced at Sloane and smiled. It was his attempt to look affably charming, but Sloane knew an oily way to try and make her drop her guard. “Hey, can I buy you a drink?”

“I’ve already got one and I don’t drink liquor,” she said simply, continuing to sip her drink.

He frowned. “Bit boring…”

“I’m a boring girl. Also, just passing through.” She finished her soda and set down a ten on the bar. “Keep the change.” Getting up, she headed back out the door and too her car. She had a clear view of the bikers from there, lounging around their motorcycles. She waited in her car, pulling out a sketch pad to draw a little while she waited. She started with a little cartoon of a Blutbad with arrows sticking out of him like a pin cushion, and then just doodling. About an hour later, the thin man lurched out and headed around the side of the bar. She saw a large shadow moving after him from the parking lot.

Sloane exited the car to follow, keeping to the shadows and keeping quiet as she went around the long way to circle around the bar. Glancing around, she noted there were no cameras here. One of the men was counting on that she was sure, and she had a feeling which one. She could hear the big man confronting the smaller, trying to intimidate him when she came to the other corner of the building.

“I told you to give me back my money, you little shit.”

“I won our bet, it’s my money!”

“You cheated.”

“And if I did? You can’t prove it.”

The big man gripped his fists tighter. “No, but I can beat it out of you. Or maybe I’ll just string you up like a deer and gut you for it.” There was a flick as he pulled out a pocket knife. He tried to rush the smaller man with the knife drawn, not waiting to see if he was just intimidated.

The smaller man however dodged before it even came close and fitted his hand around the man’s thick neck, surprising him. “You don’t know what your messing with, big man. But maybe I’ll let you know not to underestimate the little guy.” He woged into drang-zorn, baring his badger like teeth at the man before using his claws to swipe across his chest. The man yelled, but was cut off as the wesen head-butted him into unconsciousness, letting him drop to the ground. He woged back to his human form and smirked, turning to head off again, but stopped still when he saw Sloane standing their facing him. “Oh! Uh, hey there. I was just, um…”

“I saw everything,” Sloane said.

His face fell and he huffed. “Damn...was hoping I wouldn’t have to actually kill anyone, I like playing pool here…A drunk would just forget or think he was hallucinating.”

“Don’t worry…you won’t be playing anymore games, drang-zorn.”

He paused and frowned. “How did you know…?”

Sloane reached under her vest and unsheathed her knife, bringing it out. The wesen took a step back and looked at her face again as he woged once more. He paled. “Gri-!”

Before he could finish she rushed him, grabbing him around his throat. He gave a gasping, whining shout through his constricted windpipe. Bringing the blade up, she ignored the fear in his eyes to bring it back down again into his chest. He de-woged and his eyes rolled up into his head as he died in seconds. She kept holding him a little longer to make sure the blood didn’t spurt out all over her. A few drops on her clothes she could hide and take care of, but she didn’t want to have to burn her shirt and pants if she could help it. Letting go of him so he fell to the ground, Sloane wiped her knife down using his shirt and re-sheathed it. With a huff, she grabbed him up and fitted his clean side over her shoulders, walking out towards the empty field behind the bar and towards a copse of trees. Letting him fall she sighed and patted him down. She found his wallet in his pocket and pulled out most of his cash, counting it out.

 _Oh, you were a shark. Seven hundred bucks._ She put the cash in her pocket. She considered a credit card but decided against it, she didn’t think she’d have time to get money off of that safely before he was found. Putting the wallet back, she walked calmly towards the bar again, scraping earth over the trail of blood as she walked. She paused next to the clawed up biker and knelt down to check his pulse. _Still alive. The scratches are deep but I don’t think he’s in any danger._ Patting him down, she pulled out his wallet too and wrinkled her nose when she also found what appeared to be individual bags of meth in a hidden pocket of his vest.

 _Ugh…drug dealer who likes to gamble and carry knives. I saved a paragon of the community tonight…_ Looking thoughtful, she flipped to the man’s driver’s license and through his things before copying his address. Putting things back where she found them, she returned to her car and drove off.

\--------------

Nick walked into Renard’s office with a reserved feeling of caution. Their chief had asked to see him the moment he arrived. “You wanted to see me?”

Renard nodded, sitting at his desk. “Yes. I have a file from another precinct here; I try to keep tabs on the stranger cases that crop up across the city even if they aren’t in our jurisdiction.”

“By strange you mean…” Nick didn’t finish the sentence but they shared a knowing look with one another. “Okay. What is it?”

“A few days ago, the body of Timmy Shute was found in the trees behind _The T-bar_ _Tavern_ ,” Renard said, looking over the notes again. “Death resulted from a stab wound to the chest right into his heart. “Huge” Hugo Marchek was brought in after it was shown he and Shute had had an argument over betting in the bar on surveillance, and he’s well known to carry a knife.”

“Is Marchek wesen?”

“No. But he said that Shute “turned into a hairy monster with lots of teeth” and then clawed him. Had the claw marks to prove it. Nasty looking too.”

“Oh. So the victim was wesen…sounds like self-defense,” Nick said.

“Perhaps. But he swears up and down he didn’t kill him, despite always having a knife on him according to locals. He figured he had some kind of hallucination, that something else gave him the scratches, but that Shute knocked him out. We haven’t found a weapon on Marchek or in his apartment that matches the wounds on Shute. Could be he tossed it…could be there was a third party. If there was, it was someone with a knife. A very big, very sharp knife. Who went up against a wesen and won.”

Nick felt his stomach drop. “You’re…wondering if it was a Grimm.”

“Yes. I figured it wasn’t you, but that you might know something.”

“It wasn’t me,” Nick said quickly. “I…That Grimm that took care of the Wolkenkratzer is still here.”

“She is? Why?” Renard asked in confusion.

Nick sighed. “She wants to train me. In fighting wesen. All wesen, she’s not picky I think. I guess…she’s doing some hunting herself.”

Renard frowned but reclined in his chair a little as he thought his words over. “I would have liked to have known that sooner.”

“Sorry, I hoped she’d get bored and leave…” Nick said honestly. “I didn’t think she’d amuse herself like this…”

Renard hummed, looking thoughtful. “To be honest…Timmy Shute has been linked to several deaths, but evidence made it hard to prosecute. Mostly people wanting money from him. Marchek as well has a violent past, and we’ve linked him to at least one homicide with his gang. We know he’s into drug trafficking, we found evidence of it when we searched his apartment, so he’s definitely going away for that. Putting him away even longer would actually be good I think and a major hit for his gang.”

Nick blinked, nonplussed. “I…are you saying you want to pin this on him?”

“I’m saying…” he started slowly, choosing his words carefully. “A Grimm would be hard to prosecute. No obvious motive, we have no witnesses or footage of what happened outside of Marchek and Shute’s argument. Rather than try to prosecute her, we could get a dangerous criminal off the streets that we’ve been after for a long time. I don’t doubt he was planning on killing Shute himself until Shute ended up being more than he could handle.”

Nick frowned a little. “I’m not sure I want to lie…”

“You lie when it comes to wesen cases all the time,” Renard pointed out. “And sometimes you take justice into your own hands as well, don’t you?”

Nick was going to argue but had to pause when he thought that over. _We had a whole plan to stop the Ziegvolk lawyer getting a man off on murder charges, I only arrested him when he tried to assault Monroe and the others…The Demonfeur…The incident with the seltenvogel…I can arrest some but not all the perpetrators because I can’t always prove what they’ve done._ “I try not to,” he said hesitantly.

“I know, but sometimes you have to, for the greater good. While we may frown on this method, this is how most Grimms operate and have for hundreds of years. They take someone out, and either it’s an unsolved or someone else may take the fall—and often it’s someone who isn’t innocent. If she’s good, we’re not going to find any evidence linking her to this. So, why not put away a criminal who would probably go on to do worst things?” He picked up a file and handed it to Nick. “This is Marchek’s file. Suspect deaths, drugs, a lot of battery charges. A career criminal from the age of 15 when he stole a truck after severely beating his elderly neighbor.”

Nick took the file and looked it over, frowning at the list.  “We can’t put him away with something he actually did?”

“He’s a career criminal who knows how to squeeze through the cracks in the system. He’ll be in prison for a few months, a few years, but he keeps getting back on the street. He’s one I’d like to put away, and this is an opportunity. Besides, he admitted he was intending to kill Schute in the heat of the moment. They got Al Capone on tax evasion after all.”

“He actually did that though…” He sighed again but nodded as he thought that over. “I don’t like it…but fine.”

“Good. That said, I agree she can’t go running around doing this, at least not in Portland. The wesen community is already tense knowing about one Grimm being here, but some know you are…progressive, let’s say. A more traditional Grimm is going to cause a lot of panic.”

Nick frowned more. “What should we do?”

“ _You_ need to either get her to leave, or get her in line.”

“Me?”

“You’re the one she’s here for and might listen to. I doubt I can do anything that will convince her peacefully. I’d hope you wouldn’t want me dead, and despite your differences I doubt you want her dead. The only other option is to get her to leave or step in line. Otherwise we might have more incidents like this, or worse, someone innocent will get caught up in it.”

Nick sighed again but looked at the file. “…Alright. I’ll talk to her.”

“Good. That’s all I really had to ask you about then, you’re free to go.”

He nodded and turned to head back out. Hank must’ve noticed his dark mood when he came over. “What’s up?”

Nick glanced around before leaning in. “That other Grimm…she might’ve killed the victim in another precinct’s case.”

Hanks eyebrows shot up. “For real? Damn, what do we do?”

“Renard wants to leave it, let them stick with the prime suspect, Hugo Marchek.”

“Huge” Hugo? Ha!” Hank laughed slightly, recognizing the name. “That guy’s a piece of work. Had a guy die on the stuff he puts out into the streets because he cut it with even worse things that were already in it. I can’t say I disagree that getting him off the streets would be a blessing...”

“Yeah. But I gotta make sure she doesn’t do this again. The victim wasn’t a good person necessarily either, or wesen rather, but she can’t go around killing whoever she likes.”

“How are we going to do that?”

Nick smiled. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I think it’s mostly on me to do this.”

“Hey man, I told you I was going to help with this stuff when you needed it,” Hank said with a disapproving scowl.

Nick smiled more. “I know. But I want to try and get her to leave or…compromise with her before we have to try and solve this as a group. I’m the one she wants to deal with and train after all.”

Hank sighed but relented. “Alright…just be careful. I mean, don’t want her going nuts on you.”

“Relatively speaking it sometimes feels like she already is…How bad would it be if I put a BOLO out on her car?”

Hank smiled and they got back to work.

\-------------------------------

Nick managed to track Sloane down by the next day. He did end up putting a BOLO out for her car, with Renard’s agreement, and he got a call on the radio that it was spotted at a Chinese restaurant of all places. He made sure no officers confronted her, stating she was just a witness to a crime and not a perp, before he drove over. The parking lot was thick with the lunch crowd. Nick prepared himself for the worst and walked inside. Thankfully, there was no bloody showdown going on in the restaurant like a Quentin Tarantino movie. It was quiet and normal, customers picking up to-go orders or sitting down at tables chatting with their companions. He could spot one lone customer at a table in the corner, sitting so that her back was to the wall and she could survey the room while also apparently eating mushu pork and a whole plate of eggrolls. It was a weird thing to see her being so normal.

Walking over, she didn’t even look up. “Afternoon, detective. Here I thought you didn’t want to see me.”

Nick sighed and sat down. “Truthfully, I really don’t.”

“I’m wounded,” she said dryly, drinking from a cup of hot tea.

“Were you at the T-Bar last week?” he asked, cutting to the chase.

“T-Bar? Oh, a biker bar, right?” Sloane didn’t look surprised or guilty as she nodded, just momentarily confused. “Yes, wh…Oh, you must’ve found the man in the tree grove,” she said, nodding to herself when she remembered.

Nick took a breath and rubbed over his hair, speaking low. “Goddamit, you really did it?”

She rolled her eyes. “He was a drang-zorn and possibly about to kill a human over some stupid bet at the bar.”

“Yeah, and that human is about to be charged with the murder you committed!”

She shrugged. “He’s a notorious thug and drug dealer for his motorcycle gang, I rather sure he’s done something worth putting him away for.”

Nick blinked. “You know all that?”

“I figured it out. Admittedly I didn’t know that much at the time, but I looked him over to see if he was okay and found a bunch of…meth I think on him. Decided to raid his house, found a lot of stuff for cocaine and meth and what not. Personally I rather detest drugs so I just took—and subsequently cleaned—a good amount of cash he had lying around. Doubted he’d report a robbery all things considered. Also took a good amount of what the drang-zorn had on him.”

“You…robbed the guy you killed? And the guy you saved?” Nick asked with a bit of revulsion.

Sloane rolled her eyes. “He wasn’t going to need it. And not all of us have a 9 to 5, detective. I do what I can when I can to get by. Or would you prefer I starve?” She took a bite out of her eggroll.

He glared back. “No need to be dramatic.”

“No need to be judgmental,” she shot back. “This is how I’ve survived since I was in middle school. It’s also how your mother and Marie survived. I either take cash or glean enough from credit card accounts to survive and then leave the rest. Or contract work on occasion. And considering what I hunt, it’s not as though I’m taking from innocent people.”

Nick folded his arms. “Well, you’re not doing it here anymore.”

Sloane glared at him. “And what makes you say that? You think I’ve got anything else to do here?”

“You could leave,” he said.

“I could. But I won’t. As much as I don’t like you, I like Kelly. I don’t want you to end up dead and make her sad,” she said simply.

Nick frowned at mentioning his mother, feeling that was a bit low. “I think I can handle myself.”

“You can think that all you want, I’ve yet to see evidence.”

Nick glared and then took a deep breath. They needed to work something out. “Okay…if you promise me you won’t “hunt” without me, so I can judge the situation, then…I’ll train with you.”

Her eyebrow ticked up. “Really? You are seriously trying to bargain _that_ with me?”

“Yes. So long as you want to train me, you don’t hunt alone, and you don’t kill _unless absolutely necessary._ And by that I mean they try to kill you or someone else.”

“Fairly sure that’s what I was already doing, thanks.”

“That’s my offer. It’s the only way I’m going to agree to this.”

She looked at him for a moment before heaving a growling sigh. “Okay, fine.”

“Really?” he asked, surprised. He didn’t think it’d be that easy.

“If it will get this over with quicker, sure. Kid gloves are on,” she groused.

Nick nodded slowly. “Okay, good. But,” he added, making her scowl. “If I’m good enough by your standards, you leave. And if you come back through, you don’t do this sort of thing again. I don’t want any unnecessary deaths, and I don’t want to have to clean up after you.”

Sloane gave a frustrated huff. “You keep classifying things as “necessary” or not. You’re such a bleeding heart…”

“Do we still have a deal or not?” he said firmly.

She regarded him steadily for a few moments. “…I have a condition as well then.”

“What?” he asked warily.

“You want me to get your permission when hunting? Fine. But that goes two ways. I can’t freely hunt like that, so if you get one of your cases, you call me on it.”

“…You’ll still follow my lead?” he clarified.

She sighed. “Sure. But this way, I can see if your job meshes as well as you say. So, do we have a deal now?” she shot back.

Nick nodded slowly and held out his hand. Nick frowned but nodded. “Fine…I guess at least when we do have a wesen-related case come up, you would be useful. But, no killing unless it’s necessary.”

Sloane took it and shook it firmly. “You and I have a differing definition of ‘necessary’, I can already tell…” she said dryly. “Let’s hope you’re not as hopeless as I think.”

Nick frowned and took his hand back. “Hopefully. Then you can leave.”

“Looking forward to that as much as you, I promise.” Nick rolled his eyes. He moved to grab an eggroll, a rather petty move, but Sloane sharply tapped his hand with a spoon before he even saw her grab it up. He pulled it back with an indignant huff but she leveled the spoon at him with a look of warning. “Rule number one in training: No touching my eggrolls. Or my mushu pork, we are not family style dining. My food is mine unless I offer it.”

Nick almost wanted to laugh but nodded. “Alright, got it, food hoarder… I do still have your number, so I’ll call you to plan our meet-ups. My work is hard to plan around though, I tend to get called at random times as cases develop or crop up.”

“That’s fine. Just so long as you come ready to work hard in the time we have,” she said.

\---------------------

_Volcanalis_

\---------------------

Nick adjusted his grip on the club, looking around warily through the trees. There were a lot of places to hide, and a lot of places to be ambushed from. He heard something rustle behind him and turned, ready to strike, only to find nothing there. He then felt a light tap on his own head and sighed, dropping his fighting stance.

“Dead. That’s 5 out of 7,” Sloane said, putting her own club over her shoulder. Both clubs were padded to avoid any actual damage, but the object of the exercise was for Nick to hear her coming and defend himself. It was his day off and he hadn’t been able to escape Sloane this time, so they’d met out in the woods early that morning. She’d quickly tossed him a bat and explained the rules, and they’d been at this exercise or similar ones all day, breaking only for the lunch she’d insisted he bring with him. It was now early afternoon and he was starting to get a little tired.

“It’s not exactly fair…I’m pretty sure you’re a ninja,” Nick said.

Sloane smirked a little. “Being light on your feet and sneaking around is an asset when hunting. You’re used to walking carefully as a policeman. But you’re not trained to do so as silently and quickly as possible. Plus, this is how I’m judging what you already know. I thought it would be an easy first day exercise.”

Nick sighed and checked his watch. “Well, I’m afraid I can’t make this 6 out of 7 for you, it’s getting late. You know, we could’ve done this on the weekend.”

“That’s what you said last week,” she said blandly, arching her brow. “But then you worked through the weekend.”

Nick blushed a little, not wanting to admit he’d used that as an excuse. “I had to catch up on paperwork…being a detective isn’t all crime scenes and chasing down suspects. They never mention 80% of the job is filling out piles of paperwork about everything you did on a case down to meal breaks…”

“Don’t do a career fair then or you’ll never get anyone joining up being that honest,” Sloane said with a laugh. She took his club when he offered it. “I guess I’ll go figure out something to do while you’re busy still. Maybe find a hunt…”

“No,” Nick said automatically. “We talked about this. No hunting without me.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a bleeding heart.”

“And you’re too eager to kill any wesen you meet.”

“Because that’s what I’m supposed to do! What _we_ are supposed to do!” she said in frustration. All their conversations seemed to devolve to this, even when they started off civil. In fact, without other people around, he’d almost thought she was fun. Of course she had to ruin it by wanting to kill things though.

“Well, I disagree, as I’ve said to you several times.”

Sloane glared before sighing. “Look, I’m not saying trying to preserve life isn’t commendable,” she finally said. Nick was surprised by the serious, almost sad look she had. “I’ve had to argue somethings with my mentor in the past, things I thought went too far. Despite what you think, I don’t kill _every_ wesen I meet. But I’ve seen all the things wesen can do—all the evil they can do—since I was 9. I’ve been training to hunt them since then. And I am being very nice doing your training this way when I could be breaking bones like my mentor did,” she finished darkly.

Nick was a bit shocked and took that all in. Knowing she was 9 when she started training, that her mentor trained her harshly, explained a lot. But he looked at her squarely. “Yeah, well, maybe I haven’t been at this that long, but I’ve got my own experiences. And they tell me you’re wrong.” He marched up the hill to his car and climbed in. He saw Sloane huff but head to her own car as he headed back to town. Nick tried not to admit he rather enjoyed the lesson. It was more like a game than what he’d expected. He was distracted enough he almost took the exit that would take him to the house he and Juliette shared. He managed to get back towards Monroe’s house with just a bit of chagrin at himself. He missed Juliette, and their home, dearly. But he was giving her the space she wanted.

As if to mess with that train of thought, was nearly back to Monroe’s house when he got a call from the hospital that Juliette that had been in a minor car accident. Apparently, he was still her emergency contact. He rushed over to see her, making a perhaps illegal U-turn. She wasn’t nearly as relieved to see him though. She talked about seeing him everywhere, like ghosts, and it was overwhelming her. She told him she didn’t want to see him anymore, and that hurt more than anything had before in their spiraling relationship. He headed to Monroe’s house in a daze. It was pretty obvious something was wrong, and though he tried to be cheery when Bud and Monroe greeted him, ready to watch the Portland Timber’s soccer game. He explained what happened and both men awkwardly tried to comfort him.

“Um…what about Sloane? How’d that go?” Monroe asked, hoping to distract him.

“Who’s Sloane?” Bud asked.

They both looked at Bud and grimaced. “She’s, um…” Monroe started.

“She’s teaching me some survival techniques,” Nick said quickly.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I just…thought it would be good to know, with how often I end up in the woods.”

Bud laughed. “Yeah, that’s wesen for you; we do like getting back to nature now and then.” He held his beer up to toast Monroe who toasted back with an amused smile. “So, how was it?”

“It was…aggravating,” he said honestly.

 “That bad?” Monroe said knowingly.

Nick sighed a little. “Truthfully…the training was fun. She’s actually not a terrible teacher exactly. But she’s just so…Everything turns into an argument! And she just has to be better at everything!”

“Yeah, she does seem like a hothead,” Monroe agreed. “And this is coming from a Blutbad.”

“Yeah, you guys can be a bit intense…” Bud agreed. Monroe arched his eyebrows at him. “Well, you know, _some_ Blutbads are…intense. You, you’re great.”

“Uh huh…point is, this lady isn’t really…sociable, to anyone, and made an awful first impression. So I can’t say I’m shocked you butted heads.”

“True…” Nick laughed hollowly. “How does someone get like that?”

“What do you mean?” Bud asked.

“I mean…how did she end up how she is? This ultra-serious bloodthirsty…hunter…”

Bud looked worried at the description but Monroe shrugged. “It’s all in how you’re raised probably,” Monroe said.

“Maybe…she did say she’s been doing things like this, hunting and…all that, since she was 9. Her mentor even made her train through broken bones,” he said, feeling disgusted that someone would do that to a kid.

Bud and Monroe both paused in their drinks and gaped, not noticing the game. “Wow…that is messed up,” Bud said. “I mean wesen can have some messy traditions themselves, but 9 is pretty young…most won’t even have woged for the first time by then.”

“It kind of starts to explain some things about her personality,” Monroe nodded. “But I’m not going to excuse the whole trying to kill me and Rosalee thing.”

“Yeah-wait, what?” Bud asked in alarm.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Nick said, giving Monroe a look. He didn’t want everyone to know there was another Grimm in Portland, and quite frankly if Bud knew, everyone would know. “And you’re right, I mean you shouldn’t excuse that, and I don’t, but…it’s like kids that grow up with racists and no outside influence. It’s wrong, but they don’t necessarily know better. Like…brainwashing.”

“Yeah…I admit, I can understand that given how some wesen are raised…Even me. I mean, becoming wieder wasn’t an easy choice or easy for my family to accept…But before that I was like most Blutbader.”

“Really?” they both asked.

“Yeah man. I had a wild youth. Not like serial murder type, but my friends and I would go hunting and even scare livestock and stuff. I mean, you remember my ex Angelina, Nick. You think she’d have gone with a vegan back in the day? And she was all about trying to bring out my wild side again…”

“She…didn’t, right?” Bud asked.

Monroe shook his head, sighing as he remembered his fallen ex. “Not much. A little rabbit hunting…left a bad taste in my mouth, not doing that again.”

Bud looked relieved and Nick smiled. “Yeah…But I mean…If you can change, maybe she can.”

Monroe groaned and tipped his head back against the couch. “Oh God man, you want to try and fix her?”

“Honestly, I’m fine if she decided to leave tomorrow. But she’s my mom’s friend and thinking on it…I also don’t want to discount that maybe she can change. It’d be nice to have her help on things. And when she’s not calling me an idiot and just teaching me, she’s pretty mellow and cool,” he admitted.

“You’ve known her less than a month and most of that time she’s been arguing with you and then trying to train you for combat and killing things…” Monroe reminded him. Bud got a concerned look on his face again.

Nick sighed. “I know, you’re right…maybe I’m just looking for something I can feel like…I’m making a difference for someone and doing good by them.”

Monroe frowned and put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey man, you’ve done good by me.”

“Me too,” Bud said. “I mean, you helped Arnie and the rest of us against those Hässlich mob guys!”

“But I’m constantly putting you in danger...you got beaten up because of me, Monroe.”

“I also met Rosalee because of you,” he said meaningfully. “I helped people. And you’re one of my best friends, dude. Actually probably the best friend I’ve had in years considering a lot of people dropped me when I converted and while I like everyone at the wieder church…I was more of a hermit before you. You got me to actually do more with other people. So…yeah, I do owe you a lot. Even if there’s some danger mixed in, I’m feeling better than I have in years.”

Nick was surprised but smiled for real for the first time. “Thanks…that makes me feel a lot better.”

“Me too. I mean, it’s a lot more interesting hanging with you guys when the Mrs. takes the kids to her parents for dinner than going along, to be honest. And you should feel good. You’re a good guy, and a good Grimm. You catch the bad ones, you help the good ones, that’s more than we could ever ask for. And you’re a cop, so you help humans either way.”

“Yeah, what he said,” Monroe said. “And if you could convert her, two…people like you would be awesome.” Bud looked confused at the wording but Monroe quickly moved on. “But…don’t go trying to change people on purpose. Or people that don’t want to be changed. Tried that with Angelina. It’s part of why I knew we weren’t good for each other. People gotta choose to change.”

Nick sighed and nodded. “Yeah…though sometimes the change isn’t their choice…”

Monroe frowned, not having to ask what he meant. The incident with Juliette was still too fresh on his mind. “Yeah…I guess sometimes…”

Nick’s phone going off broke the conversation at the awkward point. He was almost grateful for the murder call to really get his mind off things and headed out. It became rather obvious this was wesen related. After all, humans couldn’t burn someone alive without setting fire to the surrounding area. There were burning handprints all over her body, melted plastic on the table, but the house was still intact. They found the victim, Jill Pembrey’s, bag which revealed she was a geologist. The next day they tracked down her employer, and found out she’d had a strange run in that morning with a man who didn’t want her talking rocks from a “fumarole”, a volcanic vent, near Mt. Hood. Apparently she had pepper-sprayed her assailant and run off back to the city with her samples. When he offered to show where she had found them they followed him to the woods.

He considered calling Sloane to see what she thought but still had to admit he wasn’t sure he wanted her rather combative style out in the field again. But then, she may have knowledge about what could’ve done this… _I’ll call her this evening if we don’t figure this out._

It was a surprise when they returned to their car from examining the fumarole to find it vandalized. Even more so when they caught the vandal, and older man, that turned into a steer-like wesen. They managed to catch him, but he ranted at them about taking the rocks and “not showing respect”, claiming they would die.

They take him in and Nick spoke to Renard about what’s happening. The steer wesen was identified as Marcus Hemmings and he had quite the ties to what’s been happening. He was an archaeologist once, but hadn’t really been seen in fifteen years. Ever since his wife was found dead, with very similar wounds to Jill Pembrey’s. But he wasn’t sure what Hemming’s himself was, not having seen that wesen before. He didn’t seem to fit in to how these people died though.

“Do you want some help on this?” Renard asked, rousing Nick from his thoughts.

“…You’re offering?”

“Yes, if you want it.”

Nick took a breath. He couldn’t deny, he was still a bit tense about Renard and what happened with Juliette. But he also couldn’t deny Renard seemed to have at the very least good intentions. Or intentions that lined up with what Nick needed to do. “Yeah, okay. We also have Sloane though.”

“Who?” Renard asked in confusion.

Nick remembered he had not told Renard about Sloane still being in the city. “Ah…the, um, other Grimm. From the wolkenkratzer case.”

Renard frowned more. “She’s still here?”

He nodded, a little embarrassed. “Yeah. She’s been training me a little. Apparently, I’m not well trained enough for her taste. But she’s agreed to leave if I can prove I can take care of myself. And I got her to agree not to hunt anyone else until she leaves Portland.”

“And…dare I ask how that’s been going?” he said, though he looked honestly curious.

“We…don’t see eye to eye on some things,” he said, trying to find a diplomatic way to say it. “She’s a bit more traditional. Not like old school I think, I doubt she’d listen to me if she was. But…she’s not opposed to death.”

Renard looked a bit troubled. “I’m not sure I want a rogue Grimm in Portland…”

“I know what you mean, but like I said, she’s promised not to hunt. I told her I wouldn’t cooperate with her if she did. She’s not happy about it but…well, she and my mother and aunt were friendly so she wants to be sure I’ll be alright for their sakes.”

He still looked a little uncertain but nodded. “I suppose that’s alright for now. But you want to bring her in for this?”

Nick hesitated before sighing. “Not really, no.”

Renard arched his brow, unsure what to push him towards. “I trust your discretion then. We should go talk to Mr. Hemmings though. He appears to know more about whatever this is.”

\-----------

Whatever it was ended up being a living volcano. He and Renard questioned Hemmings who gave them some clues, pointing to a wesen called a Volcanalis. He summarized that his wife took some rocks from a fumarole like Pemberley did and the Volcanalis came for them. He regretted he couldn’t save her, and that was why he was trying to keep them away from taking more rocks. They remembered Thom Evans, Pembroke’s boss, took some as well and the three of them rushed to the scene. They managed to bust in just as the Volcanalis—a thing that looked like it was made out of pure lava with glowing eyes and horns of melting rock—was assaulting Thom and distracted it enough to put him down. When it came for Nick, his bullets did nothing to him. It was like shooting living magma. But it was enough to get it to leave rather than keep fighting. Nick followed, but he’d melted his way through a metal grate and disappeared.

He knew they needed to know more about what they were dealing with. He looked at his phone, Sloane’s number pulled up, and considered if he should go ahead and ask her. This was the sort of hunt they could do together, maybe that would prove to her he was fine. But, he was about to meet Monroe at the trailer. He wasn’t sure putting the two of them in an enclosed space was the smartest idea. Taking a deep breath, he pushed call and put it to his ear. She picked up after the third ring. “Hello?”

“Sloane? It’s me, Nick.”

“Yeah, that’s the name that came up,” she said bluntly. “I’m usually calling you, so what brought this on?”

“Yeah, um…I’ve got a case I’m working on.”

“So you’re going to be busy for a bit, I got it,” she sighed, used to him rearranging schedules.

“Um, no, actually…this one is kind of…Grimm related.”

There was a surprised pause. “Really?”

“Yeah. You know anything about a “Volcanalis”?”

There was a short pause. “Volcan…No, I don’t…” she said, sounding surprised.

Nick couldn’t help but smirk. “Really? I thought you knew everything.”

“I still know more than you, so watch it,” she ground out. “What the hell are you doing that involves what sounds like a volcano?”

“We’ve had one woman end up burned from the inside out because she took some rocks from a volcanic vent near the mountains. Her boss almost ended up dead too before my boss and I figured out and rescued him.”

“You should’ve called me sooner!” she accused.

Nick sighed. “I didn’t think it was necessary, and you said you didn’t know—”

“That’s what research is for. This isn’t about what I did or didn’t know off the top of my head, this is about you being a damn hypocrite!”

“What?”

“You made me promise not to hunt without you, and I agreed and I have kept my word despite my best judgement. I made you promise to bring me in on wesen-related cases. And you are just calling me now instead of when you first thought this would be wesen related?”

Nick frowned a bit, a tiny amount guilty but also annoyed. “You…you seem too trigger happy, so I-”

“Trigger-?!”

“You threaten my friends and want to kill any wesen in your path! We’ve been over that enough I would think you’d understand at the very least why I’m hesitant to call you.”

“Really? Well, I’ll be happy to hear how you get this homicidal pile of lava to play nice then, provided I don’t find your charred corpse!” She hanged up and Nick growled a little, tossing his phone to his passenger seat as he drove for the trailer to research with Monroe. His mood must’ve been obvious, but they didn’t talk about it this time, focusing on their research.

Looking it over, he hesitated before sighing and taking pictures of the text and sketches.

\--------------

Sloane was packing up her stuff. Whenever she was frustrated she looked for something physical to distract her, and hefting her boxes back into her car was a good start. She usually unpacked them when she was in a town more than two days, keeping them in whatever rented room she had instead of her car for a time. The back and forth gave her some time to cool her head and focus on lifting heavy, locked boxes to take her mind off of Nick. Hunting was always the temptation to destress, but she resisted. She wasn’t at that level of petty yet to just disregard their promise.

 _Gotta be the bigger person and actually keep mine,_ she thought. Okay, perhaps she was still a little petty. Petty enough she was just going to leave and let him deal with whatever this wesen was on his own.

Her phone dinged and she paused in lifting the last chest. Sighing, she put the chest down and went over to pick up the phone from the bedside table. It was a text from Nick. She hesitated but then opened it. Her glare softened into curiosity when she saw pages from one of Mary’s books. Zooming in, she saw what Nick had spoken of earlier-A Volcanalis. She sat down, reading over the pages on her phone carefully.

 _Having encountered the molten beast twice before, I enlisted the help of the high priest before I had the courage to return up the mountain. Many of the dwellers of Pompeii had removed rocks. When we discovered the bodies of these villagers burned and blistered, the priest uttered one word before he ran for his life: Volcanalis. Too frightened to face it on my own, I retreated just in time as Vesuvius sought revenge: erupting and burying Pompeii. I returned to Rome where I was to learn that Volcanalis had often been mistaken for the ancient serpent, Satana. But unlike Satana, Volcanalis lived within the mountains of fire, frequently appearing prior to violent eruptions as I had so recently learned._  
  
“Mother of…this thing really is made out of magma? That’s not normal, even for a wesen…” She hesitated, tapping the phone before closing it. Standing, she started packing her stuff again. Then she went back to the phone to look again. Another text came through.

**_Nick:_ ** _We’ve got a plan. We’re going to lure this thing to a ware house and douse it with liquid nitrogen._

Sloane arched her brow but then nodded slightly. _That could work…but what if it doesn’t?_

Another came through.

**_Nick:_ ** _I’ll text you if it works. If not, please tell my mom I love her. And I’m sorry._

Sloane frowned more, feeling an uncomfortable feeling she wasn’t familiar with settle in her chest and stomach.

**_Nick_ : ** _And I’m sorry to you too. For not following through. It’s not fair. I don’t like or agree with you, but you’re one of the few Grimms I’ve met. I wish we could’ve gotten along._

Sloane stared at the text before sighing. “Dammed bleeding heart…”

Opening her contacts, she flipped through before selecting a number, holding it to her ear.

“Sloane.” A voice on the other end stated by way of greeting. It was a man’s voice, low and with a faint French accent.

“Andre.”

“Need something?”

“Yeah. You got a shop set up in Portland?”

“Maine or Oregon?”

“Oregon.”

There was typing on the other end before he hummed. “You’re in luck; I’ve got a small outpost there. I’m not sure what all they might have on hand though. Is there something in particular you need?”

“This is going to sound weird, but I need stuff to fight a wesen pretty much made of fire…”

\--------------------

They managed to get together a plan. He thought it was pretty good all things considered. They lured the Volcanalis with more rocks from around the fumarole to a warehouse. It went for the rocks, as planned, but started for them before they had the canisters of liquid nitrogen ready. Nick was surprised when something hit it from behind, covering it what appeared to be fire extinguisher foam. It wasn’t strong enough to douse it but it did apparently distract it as it roared and rounded around.

Looking behind the Volcanalis, Nick saw Sloane holding another similar grenade to what hit the Volcanalis. She caught his gaze and shouted “Hurry up already, I’ve only got one more!”

They all quickly got the liquid nitrogen tanks working, holding them up and dousing the volcanalis down until he was solid rock. Sloane pulled out a nasty looking cross bow, starting forward for the rock statue whose eyes were still glowing, when Nick quickly intercepted her. “Wait…Markus should do this.”

She frowned at him, but lowered the crossbow. “Markus?”

He nodded at the man Monroe was handing a sledgehammer to. “It killed his wife…he deserves to have the last blow.”

Sloane looked surprised and slowly lowered the crossbow. “…Didn’t think revenge was your thing…”

“I think of it more as justice.” She nodded a bit and turned to go without another word. “Sloane?”

“You’ve got things covered, right? Don’t need me around, you’ve made that clear.”

“Hey, I-” She didn’t slow down and exited the warehouse. He frowned but turned to watch as Markus smashed apart the Volcanalis. When he was sure that was over he rushed back out. “Sloane, wait!”

Sloane stopped, her car just up ahead, and turned to look at him. “What? You’ve been trying to get me to leave since I got here, right? Quite frankly, I’m ready to go too, so I’d thought you’d be relieved. You want me to say good show? I was wrong about you? What?”

Nick sighed. “I don’t…Look, yes, I wanted you to leave before, but not…angry. Even if we’re not exactly friends and we didn’t start out well, and you’re stubborn and quick tempered—”

“If this is an apology, I can see why you’re living with the Blutbad and not your girlfriend,” she said snidely.

“And tactless,” he continued as patiently as he could. “But I don’t want you to leave angry. I have my philosophy and methods, you have yours, but our goal is the same on the important level: keeping people safe. To the point even upset at me, you came to make sure we’d be okay.”

Sloane frowned and huffed a bit, but calmed. “I came for you, that’s about it. I rather figured you were in over your head.”

Nick frowned. “And yet, I had things covered…”

She glared back. “Fine, you did. Gold star, you passed, not my problem anymore. I’ll get ready to go. I think that’s best for both of us because neither of us are happy with this arrangement, obviously.”

Turning, she headed back to her car and Nick sighed before turning to head back inside. Monroe and the others were putting the remains of the Volcanalis into a bunch of bags, keeping them separated just to be safe. Monroe looked up and stood. “Hey…everything okay?”

“…Maybe. At the very least, hopefully things will be less complicated now…”

“Okay…let’s finish up here and head home then. I think we deserve a little R&R.”

Nick smiled and nodded, helping to get things cleared up so they could head back home. How things were left with Sloane still nagged at him, but he didn’t exactly feel like trying to mend that bridge at the moment. So he let it go. What was the worst that could happen?

\------------------------------

_Endangered_

_\--------------------------_

Wu arched his eyebrows as he walked up to the black SUV parked on the side of the road. It was early morning and gotten the call earlier that someone spotted it, and they weren't sure if it was abandoned or not since it had been there for almost two weeks but tended to shift where it parked as if it was driven off and then re-parked. Had vagrant living in car written all over it in his opinion. He’d been in the area so he'd called in first saying he'd go check it out on his way to the station.

Getting closer, he could see several large boxes and chests piled up in the back. Some of the stuff looked expensive and old. He followed the windows to the front, where he discovered a fair skinned blonde woman asleep in the front passenger seat, the seat reclined back as far as it would go. That wasn't terribly far given several boxes were in the way. She was quite lovely and didn't seem in bad condition despite apparently living in her car.

He used his flashlight to tap the window. He jumped when her hand shot out and smacked against the glass, startling her awake with a curse as she bolted up. Blinking blearily at first, she turned to look at him and glared indignantly at being disturbed. Wu motioned for her to open the door which was locked. She gave him a rather dubious look. Smiling a little smugly, he held up his badge and the woman looked entirely put out rather than scared or worried, saying something he couldn't hear with the glass in the way but was probably foul.

\----------------------------

Nick walked in to the station, sipping his coffee and munching on a doughnut. The cops love doughnuts thing was a vicious stereotype, but not entirely wrong. Being fast, cheap and filled with sugar, they were a valuable fuel source that was yet inexhaustible and therefore precious to long hours mulling over cases and dealing with suspects. Didn’t help the famous Voodoo Doughnut Shop was on his way over from Monroe’s house. They’d been up the night before pondering over the key he’d found in Marie’s trailer and what appeared to be part of a map it created. He planned on asking Renard about them today. He almost choked on his chocolate glazed though as he passed the processing line on his way to the desk. He quickly back tracked to make sure he wasn't seeing things. But no, there was his "mentor", Sloane Larson, sitting with a simmering look to her normally serious face. She was handcuffed to a chair near the processing office. Looking around, he quickly set the coffee cup down on a random surface and walked briskly over.

Sloane looked up as he approached, blinking. Nick noted she had some sizable bags under her eyes. "Detective..." she said tiredly, but with a hint of relief.

"Sloane, what are you doing here?" he hissed. "Did you kill someone?"

The relief vanished and she glared at him. "I didn't kill anyone, but thanks for your concern," she whispered back.

"Then why are you here? You left weeks ago," he asked a little louder. Loud enough that it drew Wu’s attention from filling out the forms at the counter.

"Nick, do you know this lady?" Wu asked in surprise.

"Uh...kind of, yeah. What did she do?"

"None of your business," Sloane ground out.

"She was sleeping in her car off of Blackwood Road. Looks like she's been there for a while."

Sloane sighed slightly, lifting her free hand to rub at the bridge of her nose. Nick blinked in surprise and looked at her, now becoming worried. "Sloane...you were sleeping in your car?"

She looked up at him, the tiredness of her eyes coming out clearly now as if she had been holding it in. Glancing at Wu, she gestured for Nick to come closer and turned away so they could get some semblance of privacy. She spoke quietly so only he could hear. "I usually do when I travel.”

“Okay…but again, you left two weeks ago?”

“I tried. But getting those foam grenades for our flaming friend wiped out my cash reserves,” she said lowly. Nick remembered the things she threw at the Volcanalis and realized she must’ve found those someplace and bought them on the fly. “I was waiting for a money transfer in town before I left. I ran out of money to spend on a motel and my tent also got wrecked fighting the big guy that brought me here, so camping wasn’t an option. My usual source of extra cash has been kind of dry, since I actually upheld my end of the bargain with _someone_ who wouldn’t let me use my usual methods.”

Nick frowned. Her usual methods were looting bodies of her targets for ready cash, then pawning or selling things she could find around them. Nick had vetoed that, in part by forbidding her from hunting without him. “I’m not going to say sorry for making you not steal from dead people…”  

Sloane rolled her eyes. “Whatever. The point is, it took me a while to get a money transfer from my accounts. And I don’t have my own credit cards so I didn’t have other options So yeah, I was stuck in my car until I have my cash. Which actually should be in today or tomorrow. I’d like to get it back so I can get things rolling,” she said a little louder, looking back at Wu who was not trying to listen in of course.

"Sorry to hear that miss, but you can't go parking off the side of the road like that. It's hazardous,” Wu replied. Sloane looked like she wanted to say something to that but kept her mouth shut. "What is it you do anyway?"

"Law enforcement,” she said sarcastically. Nick smacked her shoulder and she glared at him again.

"I see..." He took a paper printed out and arched an eyebrow as it read out. "Well we've got a few problems here, Miss Larson. Your license is expired by a couple of months.”

It was Nick's turn to look at her incredulously and Sloane shrugged slightly. "I haven't had a permanent address in a while, made getting all that done kind of difficult."

"Be that as it may, I can't release the car to you under these circumstances. We'll have to impound it for now."

That got Sloane's attention and she rose. "You can't do that!" she said, glaring. “All of my things are in there!”

"I can and will, miss. You can get your stuff if you want and take it somewhere.”

Sloane huffed. “And go where exactly? My money is tied up and let’s just say my plans appear to have fallen through.”

“Well, you got a little time to figure that out here if you need to. If we could get some current information we could help take care of this. Do you have your birth certificate?"

"...No."

"Social security card."

"No."

Wu frowned. "Passport?"

"No. That’s all somewhere else. I’ve been moving recently, that’s why my car is so full.”

He sighed. "Could you call someone for some of this information?"

“Yes, but it would take a while. They aren’t exactly tech savvy and don’t live in this state let alone city.”

Wu frowned more. “Do you have someone to stay with here in Portland?”

She shook her head slowly. “It’s just me and my car. I came for business and it didn’t work out it seems.”

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t give you your car back without some form of actual ID. So…I’m sorry. Try to get it worked out, pay the fines, you’ll get your car.” He turned to go finish the paper work while Sloane clenched her jaw in frustration, groaning softly and messaging the bridge of her nose with her thumbs as she leaned down with her elbows on her knees in the chair.

Nick stared at her a long while before patting her back. "I...I'm sorry, Sloane, I didn't know..."

 She glared at him and stepped in close. “Well, since we don’t have an agreement anymore, I can just go out and _make_ a little extra cash come my way.”

Nick glared back. “Don’t you dare.”

“Oh I dare,” she shot back. “Don’t worry, I’ll leave your pets alone. For now.”

Nick’s fist balled up and he turned to go to his desk rather than make a scene. She didn't say anything else, tense and upset at the wound to her pride and the stress of the situation. And she looked damn tired. Wu followed him while Sloane fell back into the chair with an annoyed huff.

A couple of minutes later, Wu walked over. “Hey…I didn’t make things awkward between you and your friend, did I?”

Nick snorted. “She’s not really a friend.”

Wu was a bit surprised by the sharp tone. “Then how do you know her?” Wu asked in confusion.

“She’s, uh…friend of the family. She came to town, we met up for a bit…”

“I see…looks like a tense relationship if you don’t mind me saying,” he said delicately.

“It is. We’re not on the best of terms…” he said honestly.

“Well, hopefully she gets this sorted out and you don’t have to worry about each other.”

“Yeah, hopefully.” Taking a breath, glanced over to the Captain’s office to see it was empty. “Where’s the Captain?”

“In a meeting, he’ll be in in a bit. You need something?”

“Just want to talk to him about a case that’s all…”

There was a sudden commotion near the front again and both Nick and Wu rushed over. Nick had a bad feeling about it and sure enough, he was right to be worried. Sloane was squaring up against someone another officer had brought in. Nick could see the perp was woged into a kind of cat-like wesen and snarling at Sloane as he shook off the officer trying to hold him back. Sloane just looked put out as he charged her and she dodged around expertly. When he lunged again, she brought her hand up into his jaw, following through with an elbow to his head, and then a knee to his groin. The wesen went down to his knees with a wheezing groan. Not leaving well enough alone though, she brought her heel down on his head, sending him on the floor. She moved as if to continue the fight and Nick quickly grabbed her and pinned her arms to her side. “What the hell, let go! He started it, I’m going to-!”

“You aren’t finishing it!” he hissed. “Not in the _police station_!”

Sloane froze and then grimaced when she realized he was right. Officers were already getting the man back into custody, but another was coming over with handcuffs for Sloane. “Hey, whoa, what the hell-I was defending myself!” she said, struggling again.

“You need to cool down as well,” the female officer said. “The cops could handle it, you assaulted the man.”

“The cops were doing jack all and your perp took a swing at me first!” She shot back.

Nick felt an idea come to him and held her tight as the cuffs went around her. “She’s right, you need to cool down. Maybe in a cell for a bit while we work this out.”

Sloane looked up at him incredulously. “You…I am going to kick your-”

“Please, dig yourself in deeper,” he said with a cocky smile. If looks could kill he’d be dead with how Sloane was glaring at him as she was led away. Hopefully something could be worked out that they could get her out of town. At least she’d be in the holding cell for hours, maybe a day or two, and not looking to kill someone.

Renard came in a bit later and Nick went to talk with him about the key immediately. He told Nick that the Royal Families have 4 of the 7 keys, and counting Nick's, there are 2 keys unaccounted for. The Royal Families have, and will, torture or use any means to get the rest he said. They discuss where the map made by the keys might lead to that's so important that people were willing to die and kill to find or protect it. Nick is skeptical that Renard is betraying his family, but Renard told him that that side of his family hates him and would have preferred that he was never born. He says they want as little to do with him as possible, even trying to kill him on occasion.

“There’s something else, not to change the subject too abruptly,” Nick said. “The, um…other Grimm is in the holding cells.”

Renard’s eyebrows jumped up. There was a knock at the door and they turned to see Wu waiting outside. Renard held up a hand, asking him to wait. “What’s a Grimm doing in our cells? Last I heard she was leaving.”

“She was waiting for money and Wu busted her for sleeping on the side of the road. Her license was expired.”

“We don’t arrest people for that unless we have other reasons.”

“Then what I think was a klaustrike someone was booking started a fight with her here in the station and she took him down.”

“Ah…” he said in understanding.

Nick sighed and nodded. “She was talking about hunting again to get extra money. I think she should stay in there until this is worked out.”

Renard nodded. “That does sound best. I’ll see about getting her car released and getting her on her way then when her money arrives.”

Nick nodded. Renard motioned Wu in, who apparently had a new call in about cow mutilations and a possible homicide and _aliens._

_This day just keeps getting better…_

Once Nick left, Renard sat and thought a bit more critically about all the problems before him. Especially about the second Grimm.

\------

It was near evening when Sloane got a visitor. It was a man she was fairly sure she’d seen the other day with Nick and the others taking care of the Volcanalis, but she surmised he was the immediate man in charge from the other officers calling him Captain. She was sitting on the bench/bed in the cell and looked at him as he walked to the front but didn’t unlock the cell.

“You must be Sloane. Nick’s told me a lot about you.”

Sloane’s eyebrow ticked up. “He did mention his boss was in the know. I think I saw you with him dealing with the Volcanalis too. So I’m guessing your here about me being a Grimm?”

“You’d be right.”

“What about it then?”

“I understand you plan on leaving.”

“As soon as possible, yeah. Nick’s made it rather obvious my way of doing things isn’t welcomed.”

“Can’t say I disagree. But I also can’t say I disagree with you.” Sloane arched her eyebrows. “Nick is a good detective. And he’s doing well as a Grimm. But I agree, he might be too soft at times. More difficult times are coming and he’s not going to be prepared for them.”

Sloane eyed him suspiciously. “You talk a lot more like you’re invested in these goings on than just an outsider looking through a window or a door…” Renard stared at her as well and then suddenly woged. Sloane didn’t panic or look surprised, but her arm tensed as if she would go for a weapon. “Zauberbeast? But not a very powerful one or you’d have done something to me or Nick already I’m sure…”

He turned back and shrugged slightly. “No, I don’t quite have my mother’s talent for magic. Bad breeding. But even so, I wasn’t planning on doing anything to you but talk.”

She gave a hollow laugh and sat up to look at him properly. “Talk? The wesen in charge of the police holding me just wants to talk?”

He spread his hands out, showing he had no weapon and was alone. “I do the best I can to be good at my job. I’m not just someone pushing their own agendas, I do care about my city.”

“Good for you,” She said snidely. “And what does that have to do with me again?”

“As I said, I’m worried about Nick. While we have a…sometimes tense relationship, we have the same goal of protecting this city. Sometimes that means I turn a blind eye when he has to do something Grimm related outside of hours. Make sure it doesn’t come back to him. Or to you, in the case of one killed Drangzorn recently…”

“You wouldn’t have gotten me,” she stated.

“You usually leave sooner,” he pointed out. “And while maybe others wouldn’t, we knew and connected the dots. Sticking around could’ve been bad for you. In the end though, pinning it on a notoriously violent drug dealer worked out in our favor as well as yours. So thank you.”

“You’re welcome?” she said uncertainly, not having quite anticipated being thanked for that.

Renard smirked. “I think you could still be a big help to Nick, and to others. There’s a lot going on here in Portland as far as wesen politics.”

Sloane huffed a laugh. “I’m not too big on politics.”

“That’s fine. But what they do here might have far reaching consequences. And closer consequences for Nick. I understand if you aren’t close, but I somehow still doubt you want him dead…or worse.”

Sloane frowned rolled her shoulders a little. “He’s got his little team doesn’t he?”

“They can only do so much. Another Grimm could be an asset. If you stayed, I could arrange things.”

“Arrange things?” she asked nonplussed.

“Get you a job first of all.”

“A job?” she parroted, looking more and more incredulous.

“Here, at the station. As a detective, like Nick.”

Sloane blinked and shook her head in disbelief. “Okay, if I had a week I couldn’t begin to tell you all the problems with that idea. Chiefly, I’m not interested in setting up roots. Secondly, as that implies, I haven’t had a job before. Not a real one. Hell, I haven’t been to college and I barely—technically—graduated high school. There’s little to no record of me anywhere, which is kind of the point.”

“Understandable. But Nick’s job takes him to wesen related cases quite often. As well as helps him learn about other mysterious goings on. As for your records, well…I have connections. Getting you a new history is not anything too stressful. So long as no one goes too deep, it should satisfy most everyone’s general search. You could’ve gone to Harvard if you wanted.”

“Wow. That is shady as hell,” she said rather flippantly.

“Considering the many fake IDs you already have, I don’t think you have room to talk. You’d have to tell me if you prefer Sloane Larson or Amelia White. Or maybe Francis Porter.”

She straightened and stood. “What? How-”

“I perused your car a little. No reason to formally search it and I left your trunk alone—”

“I bet!” she scoffed.

“I did. I just wanted to get an idea of who you were.”

“Considering I hid those in the lining of my passenger seat, color me dubious about that,” she spat.

Renard just smiled. “It’s a more common hiding place than you think. Was the name you gave Nick real?”

“…Yes. Stupidly maybe I gave him my real name, because that’s what Kelly knows me by too.”

“Kelly?”

“…The only other living Grimm he knows.”

“I see…Well, while I am still running a background search, I don’t see why you can’t use that name.”

“You’re officer saw a different name on my license, Sarah Jones.”

“I can explain that away with you having been undercover or something of the like.” Sloane huffed a bit, wondering if he had an answer for everything. “Aside from the job, I’d make sure you had a place to stay as well.”

“Ha. Not going to trust that much. Probably bugged it or set a trap.”

“You’d choose it.”

Sloane arched her eyebrows. “I’d choose?”

“Yes. Within reason,” he amended. “I can’t feasibly buy you a house or a luxury condo without a lot of suspicion, but I could ensure you have enough for a deposit on an apartment or townhouse to rent. Your pay would then cover the rest.”

Sloane snorted a little. “You’re a planner I see…”

“I try to be,” Renard said with a small smile.

Sloane regarded him. “Is Nick in anyway aware of what you’re suggesting?”

He shook his head. “No, he isn’t. He’s a bit preoccupied right now with a case. Likely wesen related, mutilated livestock and the like. Sounds like [Glühenvolk](http://grimm.wikia.com/wiki/Gl%C3%BChenvolk).”

Sloane’s face pinched. “Not likely, they’re dead.”

“Maybe…We’ve seen a few wesen supposedly extinct appear again here. It could be a valuable teaching time for you.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What’s to say I don’t just hunt like always? Or kill you, boss, the second you open that door?”

“Nothing…aside from several others having outside instructions that if I die and you skip town, you become Americas Most Wanted. Easy to do the same if you do any hunting I find…unnecessary.”

Sloane’s lip curled. “Sounds like a leash and collar to me. No thanks.”

“That’s fine. I’m already working on having your car freed and then you.”

Sloane sat up a little. “What?”

“You and your car will be free to go, regardless of what you decide.”

She eyed him. “The catch?”

He smiled again, liking that she was sharp. _She might actually do well as a detective…_ “If you don’t accept my offer of a job and stick around, you leave. Immediately.”

“Was already working on that-”

“And you don’t come back. Ever. The moment you do, I’ll make sure you’re the most hunted woman in Portland, maybe all of Oregon.” Sloane frowned and regarded him for a bit, sizing him up likely. “You’re free to think it over. Truthfully, it’s going to take a little while for everything to be processed. Feel free to cool your heels in here till that.”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a son of a bitch?” she ground out venomously.

His smile never faltered and his tone was breezy. “Several times. Doesn’t faze me, and my mother…just finds it amusing.” He turned to leave while Sloane leaned against the wall and looked up as she started turning that all over in her mind. Sighing, she laid down on the bench-bed and put her arm over her eyes as she tried to get a little rest.

\---------------------------

_Kiss of the Muse_

\-----------------------------

Sloane was released the next day, and so was her car. By then, she was so over the police station she had to resist kicking something. The bench sucked as a bed after the first few hours, the food was bland, and it was boring as hell. She worked out as best she could but the guards were creepy sometimes when she did.

Renard seemed to be able to tell by the warning look she sent his way when he was outside the lock up doors and so kept his mouth shut with a quiet sigh. Sloane picked up her things that had been confiscated like her phone and wallet—Luckily her knife was still hidden in the car. According to a missed message on her phone, the money she transferred to an accessible account was ready and she could go make a withdrawal. So she walked through to the closest bank to withdraw what she needed, nearly $1,000. Then she returned and her car was ready to be picked up, as Renard promised, after paying a fine she was sure was discounted for some reason. She snatched the keys so fast the attendant barely saw her and walked with heavy footfalls to her car to drive it out. On the dash inside she was surprised to find a new license—for the state of Oregon and in her real name, but usable—and registration for her car. Behind those was Renard’s card, with another number scrawled on the back. _Showing me he meant what he said about forging stuff probably…_ Putting the license in her wallet, she put everything else away and drove back into town. Once she had some food and supplies ready, she could say goodbye to Portland and get back to real Grimm work.

Nick tried to call her after she was released but considering he didn’t help her—or even visit—she was also rather over him and his ways. Or any other police. She let the phone ring and went instead to finally get something to eat.

When she came out of the restaurant, full of pancakes, she was not happy to see a black police officer standing near her car when she stepped back outside. He didn’t hide the badge around his neck, but he was on crutches oddly enough, so outrunning him wouldn’t be a problem if needed.

“You want something?” she said, tucking her hands into her jacket.

The man blinked and looked her up and down. “Sloane Larson?”

“If you’re going to impound my car again, I swear to God-” she started.

“Whoa, easy, easy!” he said, holding up his hands as best he could on crutches. “I’m not here to start anything or do anything to you or your car. I just need to talk to you about something.”

“What, did I forget something?”

“No…uh, look, this might be best discussed in…private.” Sloane gave him a very skeptical look and he sighed. “I’m Nick’s partner, Hank Griffin. And I, um…I’m a…a…Ker…shite…shick…” he said slowly, trying to get the pronunciation right.

Sloane’s eyebrows shot up. “Are…you trying to say “Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen”?”

“Yeah, that. Still getting used to these words, I took Spanish in high school…and barely passed with a C.”

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. “You…Okay, so you’re not a Grimm or a wesen but you know about them?” she clarified, trying not to get a headache.

“Yeah. I mean, hanging around Nick as much as I do, I guess it’s a matter of time…I am friends with Monroe and Rosalee as well.” She glared and Hank quickly went on before she gave up on him. “But I got something about that all I need to talk to you about. Nick might be in trouble…”

Sloane downgraded to a frown but hesitated. “He seems intent he can get himself out of trouble without my help with his animal friends.”

Hank shook his head. “I don’t know if that’s true this time…Please, can we talk?”

“…You parked nearby? I don’t think you’d be comfortable in my car on those.” She nodded at the crutches.

Hank sighed in relief and nodded, leading her down to his car. It took him a sec to get his crutches in and then in his seat. Sloane climbed into the passenger seat and held out her hands. “Keys.”

“What?”

“I don’t want you trying to drive me off somewhere, we’re private enough in the car. So hand me the keys, you get them back when we’re done.”

“Paranoid much?” Hank said, but held them out.

“Considering my profession, I prefer to think of it as prepared.” She held on to the keys in her lap and settled back. “Okay, what’s the problem?”

Hank took a deep breath. “You ever heard of a Musai?”

Sloane straightened up. “Oh…please tell me you haven’t encountered one? Or kissed one?”

“No, I’ve already had my problems with wesen voodoo in a relationship,” Hank said. Sloane was a little curious but knew that now wasn’t the time. “It’s Nick…I think he got kissed by one.”

Sloane stared before groaning and leaning down to cradle her head in one hand. “Are you kidding me?!”

“I don’t think he knew what she was until she kissed him. But he’s…acting strange.”

“Yeah, that tends to happen. The kiss is—”

“Super addictive and often ends up getting people killed from their infatuation with the Musai.”

Sloane was surprised. “…Did the Blutbad tell you that?”

“Um…Kind of. We figured it out from the books in Marie’s trailer.”

Sloane looked up in horror. “The wesen know about Marie’s trailer?! They’ve been there!? How could he let those-those-”

“Look, knock it off!” Hank snapped, surprising her. “I get it. You were raised to think wesen were bad, and I admit, a lot of the time they seem to be. But we’ve met some good ones too. One of my best friends and my goddaughter are Coyotls, and I had to save her from some messed up ritual her relatives wanted to pull that they wanted nothing to do with. But I’ve known her since she was a baby and her dad since college and they’re good people. Monroe and Rosalee are good people. They’ve helped Nick stop pretty much every wesen he’s come across. And now they’re really worried about him, just like I am.”

Sloane was quiet a moment before grunting. “You haven’t seen what wesen are capable of.”

“I have seen some shit,” he argued.

“ _I_ saw my grandmother torn apart by a pack of wesen when I was nine and heard them talk about doing the same to me if they found me.” Hank snapped his jaw shut in shock. She eyed him coldly. “I should just ‘let go’ of that? Forget seeing someone I loved die, ripped to shreds, covered in blood and fighting to protect me from a pack of animals that wanted us dead for no reason other than what we were? We didn’t do anything to them! Never!” Her voice cracked and she breathed deeply to try and get under control. She never talked about this.

Hank paused before sighing. “Sorry, I didn’t know…But our friends wouldn’t do that.”

She laughed. “And I didn’t think the wesen, the men I’d known my whole life in town, would either.  They weren’t all strangers. I grew up with some of them—one of them was our usual grocer. He’d give me a piece of candy whenever we went there. And he was fine killing us. So I don’t believe they’d hesitate to turn on him like they did on us.”

Hank shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry. But you can’t just say that based on those men.”

“It’s not just them. Most every wesen that has ever found out I’m a Grimm has tried to kill me. Most everyone I’ve hunted has killed or raped or done horrible things to people or even other wesen, even their own families. Just because you found a couple “good” ones, who may very well turn on you one day, doesn’t negate what every other one is capable of and will do if you give them an inch. This Musai for example? You think she doesn’t know what she’s doing when she entrances her men and pushes them to the brink of madness? She just wants them to worship her. To fight over her. To kill for her. It’s an ego trip. She probably thinks she hit the jack pot with a Grimm under her control.”

Hank was quiet again as he thought all that over. “…I still don’t think Monroe or Rosalee would do that…I think wesen are as susceptible to how their raised as they are to instinct, like humans are. But I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he finished honestly.

Sloane’s jaw worked a moment before she took a breath and held out his keys. “Yeah, well…I got them in the end.”

Hank didn’t bother asking what she meant, he could guess. He took the keys but set a hand on her shoulder when she reached for the door handle. “Wait, what about Nick? I mean…Monroe and Rosalee are trying to find a cure, but it’s not going well…”

“…So you want _my_ help?” she asked.

“Do you know anything?” he asked almost desperately.

“…I’m not working with wesen.”

Hank looked frustrated. “Okay, yes, fine, but do you know anything that could help? Do you want to help Nick at all?”

She blinked and then sighed. “…As much as I don’t _like_ him, I don’t want him spiraling down this hole either. The best I can recommend is keep him away from her, hope the infatuation breaks off.”

“That’s it?”

She shrugged. “That’s what I’ve got. Musai influence is hard to study, we haven’t found a reversal. Now I’ve been told to get out of town by your captain. I don’t think I should be sticking around. Probably won’t see you again, so bye, Detective Griffin.” She opened the door and walked out, moving around the back to get to the sidewalk again. She could feel Hank’s eyes on her but she was already putting up those walls she hadn’t meant to let down. But she couldn’t deny there was a nagging feeling inside her though about what he said. Nick being under the Musai’s spell could be very dangerous indeed…

Sighing, she grabbed her phone and dialed Nick’s number once she was in her car. It rang for a few moments but then he picked up.

“Yeah?” he asked curtly.

Sloane arched her eyebrows. “Well, that’s a friendly hello.”

“Considering I tried to call you a last couple of times and you ignored me, it’s as friendly as I’m feeling towards you.”

 _Very moody. Definite sign._ “I was kind of in your holding cell and not exactly happy with you either because of that. I just got informed by a friend of yours you got yourself caught by a Musai’s spell.”

“A friend? Really? Who was it talking about me and Khloe?” he ground out, not sounding happy.

Sloane sighed and rubbed her eyes. “You moron…”

“Shut up! God, you are so annoying with your holier than though attitude!”

Sloan felt a stab of anger but breathed deep. “I’m going to pretend that’s the Musai talking. Look, you can’t make contact again. It’s going to be hard, but with a little time-”

“Shove off, okay, Sloane? I think we’ve all established you don’t really care about me. Hell, you don’t care about anything! You’re just a cold bitch who likes to kill things, so don’t act like you give a damn.” He hanged up then and Sloane stared at the phone.

With a growl she threw it on the seat and started up her car, heading for the road out of town. _Ungrateful little…ugh! Fine, stay under that spell! May you murder someone and get life, you asshole!_ She drove off and headed for the highway, breathing hard and trying not to give into road rage. She was waiting in traffic near where she could get to the highway out of town when her anger started to cool. The frustration didn’t fade, but she started thinking straight again. She remembered Kelly and her promise to check on Nick and the nagging feeling he might end up killed or jailed because of a Musai of all things didn’t sit well with her. With another growl, she managed to get over and make a U-Turn to head back to town.

She found the spice shop again. Everything was telling her this was a bad idea, except the part that knew she had no other options. She felt physically ill as she walked up but tamped it down. The sign said closed but she saw the cars parked nearby and knew that not only were the wesen there but so was Hank. Pounding on the door, she sighed again and tried to put her instincts on the back burner to not kill the moment she saw someone. The door opened and the fuchsbau—Rosie? No, Rosalee, that was it—froze when she saw her.

“Oh! Um…”

“Nick got taken in by a Musai?” she asked bluntly, not looking for pleasantries.

Rosalee was surprised but nodded. “Uh, yeah…How did you know?”

The blutbad leaned over to see who Rosalee was talking to and looked surprised and on guard as she pushed her way in. “That Detective Griffin told me. He said you’re trying to figure out how to cure him?”

The blutbad—Monroe—nodded. “Yeah, but we’re not having much luck…Are you here to help?”

“Help Nick, yes. Detective Griffin mentioned you were working on something, I figured checking to make sure you two aren’t planning on stabbing him in the back.” Monroe glared. Sloane glared back, stretching her fingers slightly as she debated grabbing her knife and being done with this, Nick angry or no. But Rosalee stepped between them before she decided.

“Please say you know something?” Rosalee said. “Something that will snap Nick out of it.”

Sloane sighed and shook her head. “Nothing fast. Best I’ve heard is you have to keep them away from the Musai for about two weeks. That sometimes means locking them up though, considering the addictive properties. So…usually the Musai gets killed in that time too. But no telling them that, they usually try to commit suicide. And it doesn’t always work to be honest.”

“Still more helpful than Nick’s books, but I don’t think we have two weeks,” Monroe sighed.

“So back to the long shot…” Rosalee agreed.

“Long shot?” Sloane asked.

“True love.”

Sloane blinked and shook her head, wondering if she heard right. “Pardon?”

“It’s the only thing we’ve thought of. It’s the cure for so many things in…the stories.”

“Okay…those stories are watered down BS though, you realize? Most of them were based on real Grimm encounters people witnessed and then warped to make them make sense. And then Jacob and Wilhelm got drunk had a field day with them, but used them to send covert messages to other Grimms as well.”

“We know, but it’s the only thing we’ve thought of!” Rosalee said.

“Yes, something that doesn’t exist, good job,” she said sarcastically.

“Should’ve known you wouldn’t believe in true love,” Monroe muttered.

“I’m don’t believe _you_ right now, of all the-” she started, ready to get fighting.

They all froze when there was another knock at the door and someone walked in. It was a redhead—fairly attractive with wide eyes and a narrow nose. She paused when she saw Sloane. “Oh! Um, sorry, I…”

“Juliette?” Monroe asked, his tone saying he couldn’t believe their luck if she had to guess.

“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you…but I didn’t realize you had a customer. I can wait.”

“No, it’s okay,” Rosalee said. “She’s, um…another Grimm.”

Sloane whipped her head around to stare at Rosalee. “What the hell?”

“It’s okay! This is, um…Nick’s girlfriend. She knows about wesen and Grimms.”

Juliette was looking at Sloane in surprise. “Oh! So…you’re another Grimm?”

Sloane was still wary but nodded. “And you’re…?”

“Um, human. Normal human, getting used to this,” she said awkwardly. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you. I’m Juliette Silverton,” she held out her hand.

Sloane hesitated but shook her hand. “Sloane Larson. Just passing through, helping with—”

“Something Nick’s working on,” Rosalee said quickly.

“Ah…about that, I…I’d like to go back to the trailer.”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Monroe said. “Could it be a little later because we’re working on something now—”

“No, I…I’d like to go now. On my own if that’s okay…”

Monroe and Rosalee both looked surprised while Sloane tried not to feel a little jealous. She’d always wanted to see Marie’s trailer close up and it was starting to seem like she was the last to do so. “I…are you sure? I mean, shouldn’t one of us go with you?”

“Monroe, I just…want a little time to look at some of these wesen things on my own. I’ll be careful, but I want to really get a feeling for this and see if that helps with…my memories.” Monroe looked hesitant but finally took out a key and offered it to her. Sloane bristled at the Blutbad having a key but bit her tongue for the moment. “Thanks. I’ll bring it back later.” She turned back to Sloane. “It was, um, nice meeting you, though kind of short now. I hope we can talk later.”

Sloane eyed her again. “…I don’t think I’ll be in town long.”

“Oh…well, another time maybe.” She turned and headed back out the door.

“…Nick’s girlfriend?” Sloane clarified.

“Yeah. She, um…she was put under a hexenbeast’s spell for a while. Forgot all her memories of Nick. She’s still working on getting them back.”

“…What the hell does this guy keep getting everyone caught up in?” she sighed, messaging the bridge of her nose again. Getting caught in the crossfire was all too common for humans in a relationship with a Grimm. It probably wouldn’t be the last time something like that happened to the poor girl. “Well, is she the cure you’re looking for then? ‘True Love’?”

Rosalee sighed. “Maybe…but I’m not sure how to go about getting her to help Nick.”

“Right now, I vote getting this Musai out of the way first.”

“But—” Monroe started.

“You can keep looking for cures, but with her still at large she’s just going to keep causing trouble. Maybe she knows something anyway. I have ways of getting information.”

“Man it’s creepy how you said that,” Monroe said with a grimace.

“I wasn’t trying to sound nice,” she shot back. “Know anything about her?”

Monroe and Rosalee hesitated before Rosalee sighed. “Hank said her name was Khloe. Khloe Sedgwick I think. You might have to ask him for more information.”

Sloane nodded but then gave a frustrated huff. “The only number I have is Nick’s. And I don’t think he’s going to talk to me again. He was kind of an ass before already.”

“He’s not himself…kind of,” Monroe said.

“Here, use my phone, I have Hank’s number,” Rosalee said, handing her a cellphone after bringing up Hank’s contact.

Sloane pressed call and held it to her ear. He picked up almost immediately. “Rosalee, please tell me you found something!”

“Sorry to disappoint but it’s me, Sloane,” she said.

“Oh my god,” he breathed. “Please…please tell me you didn’t kill them.”

Sloane balked a little. “What? No, they’re alive.”

“Really?”

She rolled her eyes and held out the phone. “Say something to him, I think he’s actually scared I killed you. I won’t deny I _want_ to, but I’ve got more self-control than you all seem to think.”

Rosalee looked amused for some reason and called to the phone. “Monroe and I are fine, Hank. We have…truce, I think, for the good of Nick.”

Sloane pulled the phone back to her ear. “Satisfied?”

“Yeah, sorry…just, uh, first thing I thought of.”

“I’d be insulted you think I’m just some mindless killer if I cared,” she said blandly. “I needed to call and ask if you knew where this Musai is. I’ll get her somewhere and we’ll figure out if there’s a quicker way to undo her spell. Otherwise, we’ll have to keep Nick somewhere for two weeks while it works out of his system. And he might go mad with desire for her to the point of trying to kill himself. Or someone else. That tends to happen in this situation.”

“Yeah, starting to figure that out. We found a giant mural painted on a street by her last boyfriend, Anton, in stolen paint! I mean it’s nice, but technically vandalism...and kind of creepy.”

“Last boyfriend? Oh no…” Sloane said, tensing. “If she still has someone else under her spell, it’s very likely she’ll try to have Nick kill the old boyfriend. Having more than one is dangerous, they’ll fight for her attention.”

“Yeah, well, Nick’s disappeared too!”

Sloane pulled out her notebook and pen, smacking them on the counter so fast Monroe backed up in surprise. “He’s probably gone to her! Where’s her address?!”

She wrote it down as Hank said it. “We’ll be there soon too!”

“That’s fine, but I’m actually closer! I’ll try to make sure no one dies. Yet.” She turned off the phone and shoved it at Rosalee as she rushed for the door.

“What’s going on!”

“No time to explain, just figure something out or Nick is going to probably going to kill someone and get life in prison, or be the one killed!” She slammed the door as she rushed for her car and climbed in, peeling out and heading for an upscale apartment block. She cursed when she saw Nick’s car was already there and rushed up to the apartment. Inside she could hear what sounded like a violent fight taking place and slammed her shoulder into the door to get it to open. Her bursting in got the attention of a woman in the room—the Musai if she had to guess—but Nick was still attempting to fight [Luisant-Pêcheur](http://grimm.wikia.com/wiki/Luisant-P%C3%AAcheur) of all things. They were taking their fight all over the apartment and wrecking quite a lot of things.

“Who are you?” the woman said.

Sloane glared and unsheathed her knife. “The second Grimm you’ll get to meet, and the last.”

She paled and started backing away. “N-Nick! Anton! Help!”

Sloane went on the defensive when the men turned and rushed at her. “Goddamit, Nick!” She kicked the otter-like wesen out of the way and tried to subdue Nick, but he actually evaded her and grabbed the hand with her knife, trying to twist it out of her grip. She dropped it, but swung around and caught handle with her other hand, stopping herself from bring it up to cut Nick but managing to step on his instep and head butt him across his nasal bridge so he’d back off. “We’re going to have a serious discussion about why you’re fighting better now than when we were training after this!”

It was a whirl of fighting but also making sure the Musai didn’t get away until the police showed up. Sloane quickly resheathed her knife out of view while Anton was arrested, wincing when Nick punched him and had to be reined in by his captain. The [Luisant-Pêcheur](http://grimm.wikia.com/wiki/Luisant-P%C3%AAcheur) was screaming at Nick that he “wouldn’t let him have her” as he was led away. Nick was also pushed out the door casting one last furious glance at Sloane. She tried not to tense too noticeably when Renard came up to her.

“You’re still here?”

Sloane sighed and moved as if stretching her shoulder. “Your other detective, Griffin, came to tell me about the Musai. I figured I should at least make sure Nick didn’t get himself killed for such a stupid reason.”

He nodded, accepting the answer. “Indeed…As I said before, Nick still has a lot to learn, even if he’s able to manage to win most every time with a little help.”

“Still want me to join your cult?” she said snidely.

“If you’re talking about what Nick and the others have, it’s more of a team. The police…well, I can’t speak for all precincts but I try to make it more of a team as well than a cult.”

“Encouraging,” she said sarcastically. She noted them escorting Khloe out. “What about her?”

“We’ll start dealing with her down at the station. You can come along, but you can’t interfere since you aren’t part of the team.”

Sloane gave him a withering look but headed back down and to her car. She drove to the station and inside, where Renard was waiting. “You can stay on the other side of the glass and listen in while we talk.”

“I can make her talk faster I’m fairly sure.”

Renard shook his head. “Right now I have to treat her as I would a witness. Which means I can’t let you hurt her. Generally we frown on hurting suspects and witnesses while in custody.”

“Sounds annoying.”

“It can be,” he agreed, leading her down the hall. “But we have our rules and regulations…and we have ways around them.”

Sloane gave him a considerate look before going into the room to observe Renard and Griffin questioning the Musai. At her “woe is me” act about how she can’t help what she does, Sloane felt a little testy. She moved to exit the room, partially intent to go confront them, when she saw Monroe, Rosalee, and Juliette arrive from down the hall. Frowning, she headed over. “What are you doing here?”

“What are _you_ doing here?” Monroe shot back.

“We came to see Nick,” Rosalee said, scanning for him. “We heard what happened, we need to try and break this now.” Sloane glanced at Juliette, feeling dubious about the “true love” idea.  “Where is he?!”

Sloane sighed and grabbed a passing officer, by the shoulder. “You. Where’s Detective Burkhardt?”

“Wh-what?”

“Burkhardt. Where is he, we need to talk,” she said, imposing and not to be questioned again by her stance and tone.

“I, uh…I’m not sure.”

“Guys!” Hank hobbled over on his cast. “Nick’s gone to the holding cells, I think he’s going to…Anton’s in there!” he said quietly but urgently. Sloane cursed and let go of the other officer as she booked it towards the cells, the others right behind her. When they came in, Nick had a gun pointed into the cell at Anton. “Nick, hold it!” she snapped.

“Why?” he asked darkly. “You hate wesen right? Wouldn’t miss one.”

“You’re not wrong, but you’re in kind of a dumb place to try this,” she said seriously. “Remember? Police station?”

“Nick, she’s right. If you kill him here, in the station, I can’t do anything to protect you,” Renard said.

“I don’t need your protection! I don’t need you! I don’t need anyone but Khloe!” he shouted, aiming again.

“Nick, stop! Please listen, Juliette is here!” Rosalee said desperately.

Nick hesitated a moment and Juliette pushed her way through them to the front. “Nick…Look at me.” He refused to do so but she kept moving towards him. Sloane looked between them, unsure how this was going to play out. Her hand went to her knife to be safe, knowing it could turn violent. “Think about what you're doing.” Nick shook his head. He seemed to be going through something mentally that was trying to fight with him. Juliette swallowed, tears in her eyes. “Please just look at me.” He closed his eyes as he put his hand to his head as if he was pained, grunting. “Nick, look at me!” She grabbed his face and turned it to her. “Open your eyes. You have to see me, Nick. Open your eyes.”

Slowly he opened his eyes, panting as if he’d just finished a fight even though he was standing still the whole time. “Juliette…”

She smiled a little. “Yeah.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I'm here for you, just like you were there for me.”

Nick swallowed and slowly melted down into her while she held him. “Thank you. Thank you,” he said over and over.

Sloane stared for a moment, before taking her hand from her still sheathed knife. “That…was not how I saw this going,” she said quietly. It was strange. It was not right. It was the stuff of fairy tales.

“Looks like we were right,” Monroe said, sounding both smug and relieved.

“Hmph,” she snorted. “I’m still not sure about true love…but certainly, being in love with her probably helped.” They all moved to get out of the holding cell, Anton calling after them but Nick now ignoring him. Nick and the others moved to leave, Hank saying he’d take care of the paperwork. Nick paused as they passed Sloane and looked at her. “Sloane…I…I’m sorry about earlier.”

She held up a hand. “Save it. I get it; the Musai messed with you hard.”

“Yeah…” He said, looking embarrassed and guilty. “But still, I said some really harsh things.”

She shrugged a little. “Eh, they were true really. I just took exception to your choice of words. Try not to call me bitch in the future, at least to my face.” Sloane was surprised she said that, considering she wouldn’t be coming back.

Nick smiled a little. “You heading out?”

“…Eventually,” she answered. “Why? Coming around to my way of doing things?”

“No…but you are pretty handy to have around.”

She smiled a bit, and then tapped his chest with the back of her hand. “You better go rest though. You look like you’ve been through the wringer.”

He smiled and nodded as he left, Juliette next to him. Sloane waited a bit but bristled when she saw the Musai leaving as well. Renard came out after her and Sloane came up to him quietly enough she actually surprised him. “You’re letting her go?”

Renard sighed as he tried to hide the jump she got out of him. “I can’t do anything to her legally. She’s an apparent “victim” of stalking. But I did give her an ultimatum.”

“Of?”

“Same I gave you, or half of it. She has to leave Portland and not return.”

Sloane huffed. “That’s too easy after all she’s done.”

“I agree. But again, not much else I can do. Legally.” Sloane eyed him and moved to leave. “Still intent to leave and not come back as well?”

“…I’ll give you my answer tomorrow if that’s alright. I’d like to at least rest.”

Renard nodded and turned to head to his office. Sloane left and watched the Musai get into a cab and leave. She got into her own car and followed the cab headed towards her apartment buildings, parking a few blocks over. From the back of her car she removed a large black duffle bag and took it with her as she headed up the street. She entered the building and went to the stairwell, looking around and noting there were no cameras. Quickly she pulled her hair back into a stubby ponytail, and then tugged the hood attached to her shirt up. She then pulled out a jumpsuit from her bag, one you might see some sort of menial worker wear, zipping it up over her clothes. Then she pulled on a pair of work gloves and a paper mask and headed up the stairs. The door to the apartment was still busted, held closed by the chain. That was ease enough to clip with a pair of wire cutters in her duffle for just such purposes. Inside, the Musai was already starting to go over things to pack while drinking wine, muttering about bastard zauberbeasts. Sloane slipped in quietly, but closed the door loud enough to be heard behind her and dropped her duffle after pulling one thing out. The Musai whirled, spilling her wine, and gaped at her. “Who the hell…y-you?”

“Me,” Sloane said, inclining her head in challenge.

She swallowed, backing away. “What are you doing here?”

“I made a declaration earlier I believe. That I would be the second, but last Grimm you ever saw. I’m a woman of my word.”

She woged and shook when she saw it was true, she really was a Grimm. “I-I’m leaving, that Captain said-”

Sloane raised her hand, the small dart-like crossbow she’d taken from her bag firing an arrow into her throat. She gasped like a fish trying to breathe out of water, her hand going to her throat as blood starting tricking down neck and over her fingers. It’d be hard to scream now. Sloane loaded another shot into it.  “I don’t care what he said. I’m still rather angry with you. And the many men you’ve probably made insane and killed one another.” She advanced, the Musai trying to move away, when the next shot landed in her leg close to the back of her knee. She went down and tried to crawl, but Sloane unsheathed her knife. She finished her off quickly with a blow to her heart from the back, waiting for her heart to stop beating before standing. She left the knife there as she went to the bathroom and grabbed some towels that she doubted would be missed. From her duffle she took out a new plastic shower curtain and opened it up along with some duct tape. When she was sure there would be little blood spray she removed her knife and used the towels to clean her knife and stem the blood. She removed the two dart-like arrows as well, wrapping the wounds in a towel as well to soak the blood and folding the darts in another. She then rolled her onto the shower curtain and wound her up with towels inside, using the tape to secure the curtain closed.

 Going to the bedroom, she got together extra bedding from the closet and brought it out, winding the body in it like a burial shroud. From inside the duffle, she removed a large bag she had folded up inside. It was strong, made of plastic, and about six feet long and a couple feet wide. She put the Musai’s body inside and secured it closed. She then brought out a ventilator mask and pulled it on, hiding most of her face. Looking around, she found the Musai’s keys and pocketed them. With a grunt she hefted the bag up over her shoulder and closed the door behind her. She went to the elevator, late enough there was no one there but knowing there was likely a camera. Once she got to the lobby, a few people were out but ty didn’t pay Sloane any mind. Something she’d learned long ago, if you act like you’re meant to be somewhere, people generally think you are. Especially in a worker’s jumpsuit. She went out to the parking area and found the Musai’s car, a rather nice and expensive sedan. She put the body in the trunk and closed it before heading back up. Inside she looked around again and found a bottle of bleach under the bathroom sink. Using that and some old rags she brought, she made sure to remove any obvious blood stains from the hardwoods. The rags she used she put in a gallon Ziploc bag, then pulled off the now bleached and reddened jumpsuit and put that into another Ziploc. Both went into the duffle that was still by the door.

Going back to the bedroom, she quickly packed a suitcase full of a few cloths and such and brought it back out to the front room. Getting the suitcase and her duffle in hand, she made to leave the apartment.

“Hello?”

Sloane looked up to see a woman down the hall. “Hello?” She said in a friendly, mildly curious tone. She couldn’t act suspicious, but she knew how to blend in.

“Are you a friend of Khloe’s?” the woman asked.

“Yeah. Khloe and I are going on a trip together, just up north. After what’s happened, she needs a little time away.”

“Oh yes, I heard about all that…” she said in a concerned tone. “I mean, I don’t know her well, but I heard her boyfriend was killed just a few days ago and her ex was being …obsessive.”

“Yeah, that’s when we were planning to go and then things just got worse. I finally just said I’d come get her and we’d go. The police can try and contact her later if they need to. Anyway, she’s waiting down in the car, I just offered to get the bags she already packed so she could rest a little while longer.”

“Oh, of course, don’t let me keep you.”

Sloane nodded with a smile and headed towards the elevator. When the woman was inside the apartment, she turned and headed down the stairs again. At the Musai’s car, she put the bags in the back and started it up, heading for out of town.

Once she was out far enough away from the city among the woods she stopped on the side of the road. Hefting the body-bag out, she brought it out to the woods and off of a trail. Going back up, she grabbed the duffle and suitcase and brought them down. From inside the duffle she grabbed a fair size collapsible shovel and went to work digging a pit.

It was hours of work, well into the night with the occasional water break, but she got it done. Once it was down far enough, about five feet deep in a square shape, she opened the body-bag and rolled the body into the ditch, bedding and all. She had to arrange it, working against rigor mortis, but managed to get her into almost a fetal position. She then grabbed a small container of lighter fluid from her bag and left a little drizzle over the bedding. Pulling out a lighter, she lit one of the rags and tossed it down. The bedding went up quickly and she sighed and moved to sit and rest under a tree while she waiting for the body to burn.

From her duffle she grabbed another bottle of water and a protein bar to eat as she rested her eyes and body. She threw the rest of the rags in there as well, and then kept feeding clothes from the suitcase into it. A few pricier pieces she kept to possibly trade in one day—she doubted she could fit into them given she was taller and more muscular than the Musai—but most things went into the fire until she even tossed the suit case in. She slept under the tree while it all burned down. In the early hours of the morning the alarm she set on her phone woke her and she looked at the still smoldering pit. It was mostly a pile of ash, with bits of charred corpse peeking out here and there. Satisfied it was enough, she shoveled the dirt back over the hole and patted it down solidly. She even tossed some grass seed over it. She doubted anyone would find her quickly or come looking here.

Sloane headed back to the part of town where Khloe’s apartment was. Once there, she parked in a secluded area and took the plates off the car, then took the registration and other papers and identifiers as well, and scratched the vin number off.  She boxed them up and tossed them in separate dumpsters on her walk back to her own car. Then she drove for a motel where she could shower and sleep on a bed. They didn’t ask why she was covered in dirt since she paid in cash, with a tip to leave her alone. In the afternoon she woke up and stared at the ceiling for a bit as she thought over everything that had happened. Sighing, she grabbed her phone and dialed the number Renard had given her.

**Author's Note:**

> So, decided to go ahead and post the next part. Sloane is not a ray of sunshine, but she's very good at what she does. She's also not just a mindless killer despite what she wants to portray. Things will pick up a little more next chapter, where we will be doing the Zombie arch!


End file.
